RSSMytob, Zytob Suspects Apprehended
By Ed Oswald | Published August 26, 2005, 3:55 PM
Microsoft on Friday commended the law-enforcement authorities in Turkey and Morocco as well as the FBI for its work on Thursday to arrest those believed responsible for the spread of the Mytob and Zytob worms.
The company's Crime Investigations Team supported the investigation by supplying the FBI with technical information and analytical support. This information was then passed onto the Turkish and Moroccan authorities by the FBI after it was determined the worms originated from those two countries.
Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft lauded the cooperation between all parties to two capture those responsible.
"We were all able to see fast action not only spanning multiple countries but multiple continents," he said in a press conference Friday afternoon. "Clearly I think this type of public and private cooperation is a model."
Farid Essebar, 18 of Morocco, and Atilla Ekici, 21 of Turkey are being charged with the distribution of the worm. The FBI believes that Essebar received some kind of financial compensation from Ekici to write the Zytob and Mytob worms, although that has not been confirmed.
"There is an indication that the two subjects were working together," Louis Reigel, the FBI's Cyber Division Assistant Director said.
Although they may be responsible for the creation of other worms as well, including MyDoom, Reigel called that "speculation" at this time. He also said it was too early to estimate financial damages.
Both Smith and Reigel agreed that some positives could be taken out of the past few weeks' events. "The good news is we are seeing consumers act quickly to these things" and patch their operating systems to prevent attacks, Smith said.
Also, the FBI and Microsoft are receiving more cooperation from the public in obtaining information that leads to the arrest and conviction of cyber criminals.
But why does it keep happening to Microsoft? "I think the reality that any company that has popular products will have people around the world try to come and attack them," Smith said.
Although, he maintained that Microsoft is working hard to make its operating systems more secure. "It remains our highest priority."
Sentance them I agree...however we're taking the wrong approach...Sentance them to work for MS, the company in which they love so much to take the time to discovery these vuln. and write a worm for. Consider the worm their resume, now give the little point dextors a pay check and get your act together.
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|Wouldn't that be kind of like if someone murdered somebody else by shooting them they should get a job in the army? Or if a guy ran over somebody they should become a race car driver? No I think putting them in jail for a good few years (25) would help them on their way. Spammers/Hackers are a major problem and do not deserve a pay check, if they were half smart in the first place they should have applied for a job at MS.
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|Make an example out of them and give them 25 years or more... Hackers & Spammers should all learn a good lesson.
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|Personally-I think the FBI has some more pressing matters to be investigating. I am sure to piss off some people with this-anyway, I dont believe that Microsoft should be blamed for everything that goes wrong with a person's PC. And yes, a company's main goal is profit.
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|Oh my god!
These worms did absolutely nothing!
They are hardly worth mentioning.
But the spyware and intrusive malware that gets installed secretly everyday like coolwebsearch seems to be OK?
Of course when you are properly infected by spyware. But that is not worth arresting anyone over is it.
Yeah, its a "model" alright. A model of bad priorities.
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|security is Microsoft's "highest priority"?
making money is Microsoft's highest priority!
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|"making money is Microsoft's highest priority!"
Almost makes a person think Microsoft is a business rather than a state welfare agency !
The Computer Rodent
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|Actually, it's a monopolistic corporation.
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|"Actually, it's a monopolistic corporation"
Not all monopolies are illegal. Only monopolistic ~practices~ ! Ain't Microsoft's fault if BE was a dud, Linux too geeky, and OS-10 too expensive and elitist.
Anyway: All power to the People, dude ! Workers unite and throw off your chains. Socialism over Capitalism !
The Computer Rodent
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|Wrong!
"Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $10,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $350,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding three years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court."
- http://www.stolaf.edu/pe...t/statutes/sherman.html
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|Death sentence to those ahu sharmutas!
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|The tide is turning on virus writers and spam / spyware..... So with a multi-prog approach we make the improvements everyday little by little. Still user education is lacking, how many users really know about a firewall? My guess is not too many from what I see....the common folk (the masses) that is.
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|If the punishment was hacking their hands with a sword, maybe we might see fewer virii?
Just an idea...
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|*sigh*
I am BoardOutOfMyWits(tm).
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|If Micro$oft would'nt of had some anti-virus software, we would'n be hearing this crap!
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|congratulations ... that sentence made no sense. you've once again affirmed my belief that most people who hate microsoft can't write at a fourth grade level.
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|You're a straight piece of wood?
Usually when people sigh, they are bored, but I guess you're the exception.
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|They must teach proper sentence capitalization in 5th.
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|Or maybe the phrase was to carry other/obvious/subtle/hidden meanings:
Board out of my wits (tm)--
He packs wood: lucky wife.
His brain is full of sawdust...
Most his wits are in the head that's packing the wood...
and that (tm), if it doesn't stand for trademark, then............
I'd recommend a handle change to better reflect one of the above...
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|This is an excellent example of the pot calling the kettle black.
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|*sigh*
I'm having a VeryBadDay(tm).
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